Your 10 Favorite Cookbooks

[KHT20]

I am virtually tethered to How to Cook Everything. It's a great resource to get ideas on how to cook... well, everything. I also love Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food. The grilled romaine recipe is a must-try, as is the potato chip-encrusted pork chop (simply for the irreverence of it).

[Chris Amirault]

Ba-BUMP.

I started thinking about this idea tonight when I pulled Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art off my cookbookshelf to make miso soup and norimaki (yeah, I know, pretty basic stuff, but I had a houseful of kid guests ). I had read a lot in that book but never cooked from it, and I must say it was a wonderful experience. It really is a great book: clear instructions, thoughtful advice, accurate descriptions.

Made me realize that there are a lot of books in my collection that I read but from which I don't cook. I'd guess that the percentage is pretty small, only about 10%, and even lower (5%? 3%?) if you only count recipes I follow step-by-step.

You?

[rooftop1000]

I have about 100 but really only cook from

Betty Crocker's cooky book...owned since 1977 used every year

Mexico the Beautiful...used many times but now is lost...ok too big to lose, left at previous job

Better Homes New Cook Book for pancakes waffles usually

tracey

[kalypso]

I have a ton of cookbooks, I've been collecting for FAR too long . Some I got for their research value, some because the photography is food porn and too beautiful to ignore, some because I know the authors, some because I'm interested in the approach and some because I really want to cook from them.

Mexican food is my primary focus so I've cooked a lot from Diana Kennedy's Cuisines of Mexico and Authentic Mexican Cooking. I've also cooked a lot from my Rick Bayless cookbooks, particularly Mexican Kitchen, Salsa's that Cook and One Plate at a Time. I am currently working my way through his new one Everyday Mexican which so far has been pretty good. Oddly enough, Salsa's that Cook is my fav of his lot. The reality is that usually I'll check both authors and pick one recipe for the basic concept then modify it with ideas, suggestions, different quantities from the other.

For baking, cookies, desserts, etc. I use a 1945 edition of The Better Homes and Garden's, 3-ring cookbook. Definitely not fancy, but the recipes are structurally very sound and work every time. Plus they're easy to modify and make your own.

I've also cooked from Charlie Trotter's Kitchen Session and Cooks at Home with moderate success.

Other than that, I use most of my cookbooks primarily for inspiration and a little preliminary guidance.

[BarbaraY]

I have some books, like Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, that I have literally worn out. Having around 300, there are some that are used frequently and some never, like Charlie Trotter's.

There are some that I keep because they have one or two recipes that I use and others only for the reading value.

I often do as many above have said and study several books to compare recipes.

[rlibkind]

How To Cook Everything, Mark Bittman

On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee (not a cookbook, but an invaluable reference)

Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan

New Fish Cookery, Beard

North American Seafood, Alan Davidson (again, more reference than cookbook, but also offers some very good recipes)

American Family Cookbook, a World War II era cookbook (not unlike Joy or Fannie Farmer) that offers solid basic recipes "from scratch".

[andiesenji]

I have been collecting cookbooks for close to 50 years. During the early years I would cook something from every new once but continuted to use recipes from my old favorites. Some were relegated to the back of the shelf and never used again. However some became standards to which I often referred and were kept near to hand.

I still use recipes from the very first cookbook that was ever given to me - Charleston Receipts - because I know the results will always be exactly what I want to achieve.

Over the years I "dabbled" in various ethnic and regional cuisines and cookbooks that were oriented toward particular ingredients or even single-subject books.

I have been a baker since my late teens when I attended bakery school and worked in the family bakery. However after a short time that was not my main occupation but it became a serious hobby.

I have not counted the number of bread books that I have but it has to be in the hundreds. I am fairly sure that I have baked at least one recipe from every one. Some have been used extensively as I found the recipes were to my liking and the instructions were well thought out and liked the results.

In recent years, since I have done much less cooking and baking, many of the cookbooks have been acquired because of my interest in the subject, or the author and simply for reading and inspiration.

There is something about a well-written cookbook, with descriptions of the places and stories about the people, that gives me a feeling that I am part of a larger community of friends who appreciate food and cooking in spite of our differences. It is like a universal language bringing diverse peoples together, and it comforts me.

In another thread I mentioned Olive Trees and Honey, a cookbook I discovered earlier this year and which has some wonderful and different recipes for vegetables.

I have a lot of cookbooks on vegetarian cooking and just plain vegetable cookbooks but the recipes in this book take the most prosaic of vegetables to an entirely new level. Who knew the potato could be glorious without going too far into the frou-frou of some recipes.

[Daniel]

I have about 40 cook books.. About 6 of them are presents and not my taste.. I have learned to cook soley through cookbooks.. So basically, what I did was buy 2-7 books from the areas I enjoy cooking from.. 4 Spanish, 3 Mexican, 2 Cuban, 6 French, 3 Thai, 1 Chinese, 7 Southern, 4 Fish, 5 Italian, 3 Chocolate, 3 Indian,3 Baking and Breads, 2 Japanese, a couple of Chef Compilations.. So if I feel like cooking something Italian, I would refer to every Italian Book..

I find it a good way to organize and surround a menu with different opinions and styles.. My collection is also small by this boards and I am sure it will grow.. Although, I am hoping to be less dependent on books in the future..

Edited December 18, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Megan Blocker]

I own about thirty cookbooks right now, and have cooked out of almost all of them at some point...these days, I'm really into basic, hearty French food, and mostly using the following:

Barefoot In Paris (Ina Garten)

The Gourmet Cookbook

Bistro Cooking (Patricia Wells)

Around the holidays especially, I delve into those books rich in appetizers and nibbles, particularly The Martha Stewart Cookbook, The New Basics Cookbook, and The Junior League Centennial Cookbook.

[Chris Amirault]

This is fascinating! My info: of the 200-ish books I have, the books from which I cook regularly are:

• Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook
  Grace Young's Breath of a Wok
  Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything
  David Thompson's Thai Food
  Alford and Duguid's Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet
  

I could add a few others to look like a hotshot, but that's basically it, I think; the rest I pull down for specific dishes or inspiration but don't use regularly.

[Chufi]

I have maybe 200 cookbooks but the ones I cook from / have cooked from the most are:

Jane Grigson - Vegetable book

Jane Grigson - Fruit book

Anna Thomas - Vegetarian Epicure

Penelope Casas - Foods and Wines of Spain

all Marcella Hazan books

Claudia Roden - Middle eastern food

Claudia Roden - Book of Jewish food.

[Ktepi]

Made me realize that there are a lot of books in my collection that I read but from which I don't cook. I'd guess that the percentage is pretty small, only about 10%, and even lower (5%? 3%?) if you only count recipes I follow step-by-step.

You?

←

That's definitely true for me, especially if you discount baking (and other things where exact proportion is critical: candy-making, Charcuterie if Santa was kind enough to bring it, jam-making, etc).

Come to think of it, other than those things, I doubt I've cooked from the same recipe more than once in the last few years. I'm more likely to read it, figure out the gist, and head into the kitchen, where I adapt as necessary or convenient or fun.

I learned a lot when I did cook from recipes, or at least with a cookbook in glancing distance, and The Joy Of Cooking is one of those books I'll never get rid of because the idea is ingrained in me that it's simply a must-have kitchen fixture. But these days I'm doing my own thing more, and I shop differently: instead of deciding what to make and going to get the ingredients, I pick up what "makes sense to buy" and see what I can do with it later. (Something might "make sense" because it's on sale that week, because it's a seasonal item that's not available for long, or because it was just very fresh, etc.)

I'm talking about step-by-step, cookbook on the countertop, rigorous recipe-following here though. If you broaden it to "reading a recipe and then making something more or less like it," I think I do that with all my cookbooks -- I get rid of the ones I don't, and as a result I probably have fewer than 20 outright cookbooks (as opposed to McGee, Steingarten, Larousse, etc -- although Steingarten does have recipes, and I think I've made most of them).

[nacho]

I have about 40 cookbooks that, like the rest of you, I like to read or use for inspiration. Of those 40, I have 5 favorites that I use 75% of the time when I'm entertaining:

1.) Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

2.) Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Tastes

3.) Diana Kennedy's From My Mexican Kitchen ... I love this book. B/c of it, my number 4 joined the list...

4.) Diana Kennedy's Essential Cuisines of Mexico

5.) Karen Lee's The Occassional Vegetarian

And one with potential that may soon join the list of favorites (after I've tried a few more recipes) is:

Giuliano Hazan's Every Night Italian

I also have several of his mother's books, but the appeal to me of this one is the simple preparation for weeknight cooking.

[CtznCane]

Out of a little more than 100 books I'd say 10%get regular use, 50% get sporadic use, 35 % are seldom used and 5% are totally useless. As my cooking has developed, I find myself using many of the books just for ideas and guides as opposed to exact recipes. In many of the books it is not the recipes but other information (general processes and such) that is continually useful. As to a short list of books I most often use:

1. Joy of Cooking. Used more than all others combined.

2. Rick Bayles's books.

3. Grace Young's - The Breath of a Wok and Marin Yan's Everybody's Wokking for Chineese.

4. The New Orleans Cookbook by Richard & Rima Collin. One of my absolute favorite cookbooks.

5. Glorious French Food - Jim Peterson.

6. BBQ USA - Raichlen - to me this is the Joy of Cooking for BBQ

My other most used one's are Marcella Hazan's books as well as Emeril's and Nick Malgieri's for Baking.

[M.X.Hassett]

I use all of them. I cook recipes (exactly) from virtually none of them.

←

I tend to look up a recipe in 5 or 6 different ones even before I start.

mega dittos

[shrek]

I have approx 60 cookbooks and I use about 30 of them regularly, 20 or so for special occasions, and 10 more for reference than anything else. I also have about 20 issues of Bon Appetit on the shelf that get used frequently according to the season. Once a year I go through the collection and pull any books that I have not used, and decide whether to keep it or donate it to the library.

I often get cookbooks as gifts, and occasionally I get one that I do not enjoy. Those are usually the ones that get donated.

[Jesse A]

This is fascinating! My info: of the 200-ish books I have, the books from which I cook regularly are: Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook

←

Ah, Charmaine Solomon. My girlfriend's parents gave us a copy and we use it religiously. Their decades-old copy has been so loved that the pages are a deep yellow (from age or turmeric?) spine has completely disintegrated -- the pages are held together between the covers with rubber bands. You can pick the best recipes by the quantity of sauce splotches on the page.

[mrsadm]

I don't have a limited list of cookbooks that I use regularly. Guess I'm pretty eclectic.

I like to browse many cookbooks during the week, narrow down to a type of recipe, then find that recipe in a few different books, then pick 1 (or an assemblage of a few), buy the ingredients on Saturday morning and cook that weekend.

During the week I eat formerly frozen meals put into the freezer or takeout rotisserie chicken. I have long days at the office ......

I do like an old standby that I've had since I got married, and that is Fannie Farmer. All the basics are in there and thus I have managed to avoid "Joy of Cooking" which never appealed to me.

I also like to try new things from the latest cooking mags...

[Jaymes]

The only one I am scared to cook from is "The French Laundry Cookbook" for obvious reasons

Got that as a Christmas present last year. I remember reading through it. After about an hour or so studying the recipes, I thought to myself...."Well, I guess I could probably manage the croutons."

[Philanthrophobe]

It bothers me not a whit that I have a ton of cookbooks that I haven't gotten around to cooking from. I love reading them, so yes, I'd say that I "use" all of them. The ones that aren't fun to read or to cook from, I give away.

My favorite cookbook authors are Julie Sahni, Nikki and David Goldbeck (LOVE their American Wholefoods Cuisine), Maida Heatter, Diana Kennedy, Marion Cunningham, Madhur Jaffrey, Rick Rodgers, and all manner and forms of the Cook's Illustrated publications. I also frequently cook from Julie Jordan's Cabbagetown Cafe books and the Asian cookbooks published by WeiChuan.

[rgruby]

This is fascinating! My info: of the 200-ish books I have, the books from which I cook regularly are: Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook

←

Ah, Charmaine Solomon. My girlfriend's parents gave us a copy and -- You can pick the best recipes by the quantity of sauce splotches on the page.

←

I love that. (I've edited Jeese's quote - the whole thing is upthread). I haven't used that book much, but I'm going through a bit of a Chinese cooking jag, so Ms. Solomon (And Barbara Tropp's book too) should make a reaquaintance with me and my kitchen. (Any fave recipes out there?)

And, on a completely different tangent: when do you give up on a cookbook? I guess sometimes that happens before it enters your home - you look at it in the store or online or wherever and make up your mind - eh, this isn't for me. But what about the ones you do purchase or get as gifts - what makes you decide to sell, give away, bury, etc. a cookbook. I've found this very difficult, for some reason, even for cookbooks I'm fairly certain I'll never use (again).

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[greenwich st]

I have about 30, I think, not counting misguided gifts. Some will probably stay untested (Pepin's Fast Food My Way, Bugialli's Foods of Italy) some were in heavy rotation at some point in my life, and now are only represented by one crucial vestigial recipe (the Diabolo Cake in Simca's Cuisine). I have a few specialty books (The Breakfast Book by Cunningham, The Cake Bible) that I've relied on because they're my only one in the genre. (I'm ready for another cake book -- any suggestions?) The book I've learned most from overall is Simple French Food by Olney, though I too rarely cook from it these days.

The single book I've used most in 2005, mainly because of the fun related thread on this site, is All About Braising by Molly Stevens. It's so great to experience testing a cookbook as a shared project! And this is a very trustworthy book -- most of the recipes seem well-tested for the kind of cook I am (earnest amateur with a sophisticated palate). A surprise second runner up was The Flavors of Southern Italy by Erica DeMane, which I never see cited on egullet, but I've enjoyed a lot. And the yellow Bittman really is my new Joy of Cooking -- the general fall-back with some recipes I'll probably keep using for years.

[highchef]

I still use recipes from the very first cookbook that was ever given to me - Charleston Receipts - because I know the results will always be exactly what I want to achieve.

This is one of the first, actually may be the first, cookbook I received as well. It was a wedding present and is still on the kitchen shelf. Others are several Lousiana Junior league books (River roads group) and one from Arkansas called Sassafrass which is really got a couple of really good solid kick butt recipes in it.

I have used Les Halles, but mostly just read it. I think I made a handful of the recipes so far. I'm not done with it yet.

I use Tyler Florence's books quite a bit, but check the reasoning (like hot water for chocolate cakes) against the recipes in 'Cake Bible', or' In The Sweet Kitchen'. He doesn't explain the whys of recipes. Since I'm always tweaking, that can be a disaster.

I have a couple of Time-Life series which I refer to again and again, as well as Prudhumme, Folse, and the usual classic southern living suspects.

There are literally a couple of hundred more, but I've had to put about half of them in the attic. It was not a clean purge, as I've already rescued 2 froml there over the holidays.

I think e-gulletters read cookbooks like novels, in which case it would have to be a complete dog to be a 'bad thing' (yeah, I've got a Martha too). Mentioned up-thread, cookbooks are entertaining (pun?) and educational...if not, put them on the garage sale table. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Or womans.

What happened to that cookbook trade thread anyway???? I've got a couple I need to post.

[santo_grace]

I have about 30 cookbooks, but can't remember the last time I opened most of them. The ones I use the most are:

New York Times Cookbook

Jacques and Julia's from their TV series

Better Homes and Garden

Julia Child's - The Way to Cook

William Sonoma's series Soup, Pasta, Salad

I hope I got the titles right - I'm writing this list while at work - trying to forget that I am at work after a long weekend of relaxation and cooking.

[R.E. Turner]

I don't quite know how to define "use" in this case: If "use" means "actually following the recipe, pretty much as written," I probably only use two or three of my 150 or so cookbooks. (Charleston Receipts, a DeKalb Co., Ga. Junior League cookbook with the world's "awesomest" pecan pie and pecan tassies recipes, and a bread cookbook whose name escapes me right now.) Several others among the collection actually get perused a lot more for reference: The Joy of Cooking - for information on ingredients and techniques, Escoffier - for information on techniques, A Gracious Plenty - for ideas/inspiration, and a microwave cookbook (maybe titled "Micro Ways"?,) - for the why and how of using the microwave for a few "real" cooking techniques, vs. reheating.

Frankly, though, most of my books are for pure enjoyment. They're either good reads, or so bad that they're funny, or historically interesting, or fun little oddities (Len Deighton's "Action Cook Book," anyone? Actually, surprisingly useful, but I picked it up in a thrift store because I was amused by the notion of recipes by the author of spy thrillers, combined with the photos on the cover.) For me, no trip to a thrift store, garage sale, or discount store is complete without scanning the shelves for vintage cookbooks. In fact, my most prized book was acquired from the local Goodwill: I bought a forties-vintage cookbook for a couple of bucks, brought it home, and began flipping through to enjoy the book itself, the hand-written notes, and the clippings taped inside. There was a meringue pie recipe written on the back of an old envelope... a recipe I knew well, because an old neighbor from my childhood had served it to me. Sure enough, the front of the envelope was addressed to Mrs. J. W.! (I assume that the book was donated after Mrs. W.'s death a few years ago, and nearly cried when I realized that her family hadn't prized such a treasure.)

Now, I just have to decide whether to hit the Goodwill after work to scan for "new" cookbooks, or to go home and read the three new ones I got for Christmas!